Heddle frame actuating gearing for looms



Sept. 23, 1969 J, UM 3,468,347'

'HEDDLE FRAME ACTUA'IING GEARING FOR LOOMS Filed Sept. 15, 1967 4Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR Sept. 23, 1969 -r HEDDLE FRAME ACTUATING GEARINGFOR LOOMS 4 Sheets-Sheet L Filed Sept. 15, 1967 9 INVENTOR M P BYAJIQRMES Sept. 23, 1969 FUMAT HEDDLE FRAME ACTUATING GEARING FOR LOOMSFiled Sept. 15, 1967 4 Sheets-Sheet INVENTOR ATTORNEY Sept. 23, 1969 J.FUMAT HEDDLE FRAME ACTUATING GEARING FOR LQOMS Filed Sept. 15, 1967 4Sheets-Sheet 4 ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,468,347 HEDDLE FRAMEACTUATING GEARING FOR LOOMS Joseph Fumat, Lyon, France, assignor toSociete des Mecaniques Verdol, Lyon, Rhone, France, a French limitedliability company Filed Sept. 15, 1967, Ser. No. 668,041 Claimspriority, application France, Oct. 5, 1966,

US. Cl. 139-66 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE In a heddle frameactuating gearing eccentrics are prm vided which are selectivelyconnectable either with an intermittently rotated grooved shaft or witha stationary part. Each eccentric carries a pivoted pawl which carries apin-like member adapted to cooperate with the stationary part and with amovable circular cam surface having notches or grooves which may eitherregister to permit the pin-like member to move outwardly, so that thepawl may be disengaged from the shaft and engaged with the stationarypart, or may become disaligned to depress the pin-like member, andwhereby the pawl may be disengaged from the stationary part and engagedwith the shaft.

This invention relates to the heddle actuating gearings which, under thecontrol of appropriate pattern mechanisms, as for instance a perforatedpaper band cooperating with feeler needles, open and close the shed of aloom. The invention more particularly refers to the gearings of the kindin question wherein the heddle frames are individually actuated byeccentrics rotatably mounted on a common driving shaft which rotatesthrough successive advances of 180, means being provided whereby eacheccentric may be selectively connected angularly either with the shaftto rotate therewith or with a stationary part so as to maintain thecorresponding heddle frame at a fixed position.

In accordance with the present invention, the gearing comprises for eacheccentric a pawl member pivoted to the said eccentric, this pawl memberbeing engageable either with the shaft or with a stationary plate,biassing means which act on the pawl member to normally maintain sameengaged with the stationary plate, and selecting means actuated by thepattern mechanism of the loom to disengage the pawl member from thestationary plate and to engage it with the grooved shaft against theaction of the biassing means.

In the annexed drawings:

FIG. 1 is a front view of a gearing according to the invention.

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal section thereof taken along line IIII of FIG.1.

FIGS. 3 and 4 are transverse sections respectively taken along linesIIIIII and IVIV of FIG. 2.

FIG. 5 shows the inner side of the stationary plate of the gearingviewed as in FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 shows the driving ring of the gearing, also viewed as in FIG. 4.

FIG. 7 is a section taken along line VIIVII of FIG. 3.

FIG. 8 is an exploded perspective view illustrating the components ofthe gearing of FIGS. 1-7.

FIGS. 9 to 12 are simplified explanatory views similar to FIG. 3 butwhich illustrate the successive operative steps of the gearing.

FIG. 13 is a transverse section showing a modified embodiment of agearing according to the invention.

FIG. 14 is a longitudinal section taken along line XIV-XIV of FIG. 13.The line of section correspond- 3,468,347 Patented Sept. 23, 1969 ing toFIG. 13 has been indicated at XIII-XIII in FIG. 14

1 FIG. 15 is a section taken along line XVXV of FIG.

FIG. 16 diagrammatically shows how the gearing according to theinvention may be controlled by a pattern mechanism.

The gearing illustrated comprises a shaft 1 which rotates intermittentlythrough succsesive advances of 180 in synchronism with the operation ofthe loom. Since such an arrangement is well known in the art, themechanism which drives shaft 1 has not been illustrated. Shaft 1 has twodiametrically opposed grooves 1a which extend longitudinally thereon. Itcarries a number of eccentrics 2 (FIGS. 3 and 8), each corresponding toa heddle to be actuated. Since all these eccentrics and their associatedparts are identical, only one of them has been illustrated in theannexed drawings and will be described below. Eccentric 2 is loose onshaft 1 and it rotatably carries one end 3a of a fiat rod 3 to the otherend of which is pivotally attached a heddle actuating lever 5. Each timeeccentric 2 rotates through 180", rod 3 is moved upwardly or downwardlyand through lever 5 it actuates the heddle frame accordingly.

Eccentric 2 may be selectively connected with shaft 1 by means of aconnecting pawl 7 (FIGS. 3 and 8) the nose or tip 7a of which may engagethe grooves 1a of the shaft. As shown pawl 7 is disposed in a lateraldepression 2a of eccnetric 2 and it is pivoted on a pin 8 carried by thelatter. In order to obtain a higher mechanical strength, nose 7a isthicker than the main body of pawl 7, as clearly indicated in FIG. 8,the protruding portion being received in an opening 2b provided ineccentric 2. Pawl 7 is normally biassed to its ineffective position withrespect to shaft 1 by a compression spring 9 mounted in a groove 20which forms a lateral extension of depression 2a. The outer side of pawl7, i.e. its front side in FIG. 3 or its rear side in FIG. 8, carries alaterally protruding cylindrical gudgeon 10 the free end of which isflattened, as indicated at 10a, the flat sides being disposedsubstantially radially. with respect to eccentric 2.

A circular plate 11, loose on shaft 1, is disposed against the side ofeccentric 2 which has the depression 2a, this plate being formed with aradially protruding lug 11a which is threaded on a rod 12 parallel toshaft 1. Rod 12 is secured to the fixed frame, not illustrated. Theinner side of plate 11 (i.e. its side which engages eccentric 2) has acircular depression or groove 11b (see FIGS. 5 and 8) adapted to receivea flat driving ring 13 (FIG. 6) formed with two radial lugs 13a and 1317which are received with a snsbtantial angular clearance in twocorresponding radial depresssions 11c and 11d (FIG. .5) extendingbetween the circular groove 11b and the periphery of plate 11. Lug 13acarries a pin 14 (FIGS. 1 and 4) on which is pivotally attached a link15 the other end of which is actuated by the pattern mechanism (as forinstance by being attached to one of the hooks in the case of a dobby ofthe Jacquard or Verdol type). To the other lug 13b is attached abiassin'g spring 16 having its other end attached to the frame at 17.The inner periphery 13c of ring 13 has two V-shaped notches 13d whichare situated with respect to each other at an angle somewhat differentfrom 180, as indicated in FIG. 6 wherein the angular difference has beenreferenced oz. The inner periphery of ring 13 forms a cam surface forthe lateral gudgeon 10 of pawl 7 and its diameter is such that itretains the nose 7a of pawl 7 engaged in the grooves 1a of shaft 1 (seeFIGS. 10 and 11), while on the contrary notches 13d permit gudgeon 10 tomove outwardly to such an extent that the nose 7a of pawl 7 may clearnotches 1a, pawl 7 being thus brought to its ineffective or disengagedposition by spring 9, if it is not retained by plate 11 as explainedbelow.

For this purpose the inner side of plate 11 has an inner annulardepression 112 (see FIGS. 2, 5, 7 and 8) which is somewhat deeper thandepression 11b. Stated in other words, in the central portion of theflat bottom of depression 11b there is provided a further depression11e. Gudgeon 10 is of such a length that its flattened end 10a projectsbeyond ring 13 into depression 11e (see FIG. 7). The outer diameter ofdepression He is substantially equal to the inner diameter of ring 13and the peripheral shoulder which separates the said depression fromdepression 11b is formed with two diametrically opposed notches 11 withsubstantially radial parallel sides adapted to receive the flattened end10a of gudgeon 10.

The device described corresponds to but one heddle frame and as aboveexplained shaft 1 carries a plurality of such devices. Owing to theirflat character, they may easily be juxtaposed on shaft 1 while beingretained axially by means of two end plates removably secured to thesaid shaft, which permits of adapting the number of devices to thenumber of heddle frames to be actuated.

In the following description of the operation of the device of FIGS. 1l2it will be assumed that at the highermost position of rod 3 (FIG. 1) thecorresponding heddle frame is raised. Furthermore it will be supposedthat the dobby is of the Verdol type and that it pulls link 15 (towardsthe right in FIG. 1) when the corresponding feeler needle detects aperforation in the pattern paper. It is however obvious that theseassumptions do not limit the ambit of the invention.

FIG. 16 shows by way of example how such a dobby or pattern mechanism ofthe Verdol type may operate. In this figure reference numeral 200designates the perforated paper band, 201 a feeler or reading needle,and 15a the hooked end of link 15, this end cooperating with atransverse bar 202 having a reciprocating motion both vertically andhorizontally. Bar 202 is first raised, whereby needle 201 clears band200 and permits the advance thereof, it is thereafter lowered to causeneedle 201 to rest on band 200 or to pass through same if it needs aperforation, and then bar 202 is displaced rearwardly to pull link 15 ifneedle 201 has met a perforation, or to leave said link unactuated ifneedle 201 has been retained by a plain portion of the paper band.

The explanatory views of FIGS. 9-12 show different positions of theparts, but while these views are similar to FIG. 3, they show in dashlines the contour of the inner periphery 13 of ring 13, the position ofthe rectangular notches 117 of plate 11 being indicated in full lines.The lug 13b of ring 13 has been diagrammatically illustrated in the formof a dashed line in FIG. 9 and it has been supposed that under theaction of spring 16 of FIG. 1 (not illustrated in FIG. 9), it engages afixed abutment 18. In practice the angular displacement of ring 13 underthe action of spring 16 is limited by the left-hand side of radialdepression 110 in FIG. 5, which forms an abutment for lug 13a. But insome cases it may be of advantage to provide a separate abutment such as18 for each eccentric device, this abutment being preferably adjustable.

FIG. 9 shows the device at rest with the heddle frame at its loweredposition. The flattened end 1011 of gudgeon 10 is located in the lowernotch 11f of the stationary plate 11 while the cylindrical portion ofthe said gudgeon is disposed in the lower notch 13:! of the drivingring, these two notches 11 and 1311 being in line. The nose 7a of pawl 7is disengaged from grooves 1a of shaft 1, pawl 7 is thereforeineffective and eccentric 2 cannot be rotated by shaft 1. Furthermore itis positively retained against rotation by the engagement of theflattened end 10a in the substantially rectangular notch 11 of thestationary plate 11. At this position of rest, lug 13b bears againstabutment 18 under the action of spring 16. It will be noted that theupper notch 13d of ring 13 is not in line with the upper notch 11 ofplate 11, since notches 11f are diametrically opposed, while notches 13dare disposed at an angle of in (see FIG. 6) with respect to each other.This of course supposes that link 15 is not pulled, i.e. that thecorresponding feeler needle detects no perforation in the pattern paper.

It is to be remarked that at the two positions of dwell of shaft 1, oneof its grooves 1a is situated in front of the nose 7a of pawl 7.

When the heddle frame is to be raised, i.e. when the feeler needle hasdetected a perforation in the pattern paper, link 15 is pulled (towardsthe left in FIG. 1) during a dwell of shaft 1 and ring 13 is thereforerotated counterclockwise in the said figure. The arrangement is suchthat this rotation corresponds exactly to the angle a of FIG. 6, wherebythe lower notch 13d of ring 13 is disaligned with respect to the lowernotch 11 of stationary plate 11, while the upper notch 13d of ring 13comes in line with the upper notch 11) of plate 11. Owing to theV-shaped contour of notches 13d, the cylindrical portion of gudgeon 10is forced inwardly, pawl 7 is rotated clockwise in FIG. 9 against theaction of spring 9 and therefore its nose 7a engages the adjacent groove1a of shaft 1. The parts are now at the position illustrated in FIG. 10.Pawl 7 is liberated with respect to stationary plate 11 and it now formsa positive connection between eccentric 2 and shaft 1.

During the next rotation of 180 of shaft 1, eccentric 2 is thereforerotated through half a revolution and rod 3 passes from its lowermost toits highermost position. The heddle frame is thus raised.

If during the next pick the feeler needle again detects a perforation inthe pattern paper, i.e. if the heddle frame is to remain at the raisedposition, link 15 is again pulled towards the left in FIG. 1 andtherefore the upper notches 13d and 11 are again in line. Gudgeon 10 maymove outwardly under the action of spring 9, pawl 7 being thus againbrought to its ineffective position. Eccentric 2 is thereforedisconnected from shaft 1, but it is positively locked with stationaryplate 11. Theparts thus assume the position illustrated in FIG. 12. Theheddle frame will not be lowered during the next rotation of shaft 1.

If on the contrary the feeler needle has detected no perforation in thepattern paper, i.e., if the needle frame is to be lowered for the nextpick, link 15 and ring 11 are returned to and maintained at theirposition of rest by spring 16. Ring 13 is again brought to its initialposition of FIG. 9. Its upper notch 13d becomes disaligned with respectto the upper notch 11f of stationary plate 11. Gudgeon 10 is thereforeforced inwardly and therefore the nose 7a of pawl 7 re-engages theadjacent groove 1a of shaft 1. The parts thus assume the position ofFIG. 11. Eccentric 2 is liberated from stationary plate 11 and it is nowconnected with shaft 1 by pawl 7 to be driven through half a revolutionduring the next rotating step of shaft 1. The parts will return to theposition of FIG. 9 and therefore the heddle frame will be lowered.

In the modified embodiment of FIGS. 13-15 the parts identical with orsimilar to those of FIGS. 1-12 have been designated by the samereference numerals plus 100, shaft 1 becoming shaft 101, and so on. Herethe stationary plate 111 has on its inner side a fiat lateral annularprojection 111g (shown in section in FIG. 13 transversely with respectto the shaft 111) and the driving ring 113 is rotatably mounted onprojection 111g. The pawl 107 carries a pin 20 which protrudes towardsplate 111 and on this pin is pivoted a small link 21 the free end ofwhich, at the disengaged position of pawl 107, enters one of twodiametrically opposed radial grooves 111h provided in projection 111g.In each groove Ink is slidably mounted a short pusher rod 22 guided by apin 23 carried by plate 111 and which may slide freely in a slot 22a ofthe said rod (see FIG. 14). The length of each pusher rod 22 issubstantially equal to the radial width of projection 111g. Pusher rods22 are adapted to co-act with the inner V-shaped notches 113d of ring113.

At the position illustrated in FIGS. 13-15 the free end of the upperpusher rod 22 has been pushed into the upper notch 113d of ring 113,whereby link 21 has been permitted to enter the corresponding groove111h under the action of the biassing spring 109 of pawl 107. The nose107a of the latter is thus disengaged from the grooves 101a of shaft 101and the flat rod 103 is retained at its highermost position, since link21 then acts as a retaining bolt or cotter pin in the radial groove111h. In order to enhance this retaining action of link 21, thedepression 102a of eccentric 102 does not open on the periphery of thelatter and the portion of the said eccentric comprised betweendepression 102a and the periphery has a radial groove 102e for passageof link 21. If now ring 113 is rotated clockwise through a small angle(angle a in FIG. 6), the upper pusher rod 22 will be depressed and link21 will be pushed inwardly, whereby the nose 107a of pawl 107 will bedriven into the adjacent groove 101a of shaft 101 against spring 109. Atthe next rotational step of the shaft, eccentric 102 will thus berotated through 180, link 21 being retained by the inner periphery ofprojection 111g, and the flat rod 103 will be brought to its lowermostposition. Owing to the clockwise rotation of ring 113, the lower notchof the latter will now register with the lower groove 111h of projection111g and therefore link 21 will enter the said groove while pushing thelower end of the corresponding pusher rod 22 into the said notch 113d.'Ihe gearing of FIGS. 13-15 is therefore quite similar in operation tothe gearing of FIGS. 1-12, the radial grooves 111k of plate 111 playingthe role of the notches 11 of plate 11, while link 21 acts in some wayas gudgeon 10.

As shown in FIG. 15 the protruding end of the pin 108 on which pawl 107is pivoted, is retained by a small plate 24 clamped by a screw 25 in adepression 102d of eccentric 102. In order to retain the lower pusherrod 22 in its groove 11111 the annular lower end 103a of the flat rod103 is formed with a flat downward extension 10312. It will further benoted that to reduce the inner diameter of the annular projection 111gof plate 111, eccentric 102 has been formed with a crescent-shapeddepression 102 which partly receives the said projection.

What I claim is:

1. In a heddle actuating gearing interposed between a pattern mechanismand the heddle frames of a loom, of the kind comprising a grooved shaftrotated intermittently through successive advances of 180 in synchronismwith operation of the loom, at least one eccentric loosely carried bysaid shaft heddle driving rods each loosely mounted on one of saideccentrics and means under control of the pattern mechanism toselectively connect each of said eccentrics with said shaft to raise andlower the corresponding heddle driving rod, said means comprosing forsaid eccentric a notched stationary plate loosely surrounding saidgrooved shaft; a pawl member pivoted to said eccentric and engageableeither with said shaft or with said stationary plate, biassing meansacting on said pawl member to normally maintain same engaged with saidstationary plate; and selecting means actuated by said pattern mechanismto disengage said pawl member from said stationary plate and to engagesaid pawl member with said grooved shaft against the action of saidbiassing means.

2. In a gearing as claimed in claim 1, said pawl member being formedwith a nose to engage the grooves of said grooved shaft.

3. In a gearing as claimed in claim 1, said pawl member having a lateralextension to engage said stationary plate, said stationary plate havingan inner circular portion co-axial to said grooved shaft and which formsa cam surface to retain said later extension at such a radial positionwith respect to said grooved shaft that said pawl member is engagedtherewith, and said inner circular portion of said stationary platehaving two diametrically opposed notches of substantially rectangularshape to receive said lateral extension of said pawl member so as topermit said biassing means to disengage said member from said shaft andto engage said pawl member with said stationary plate through saidlateral extension.

4. In a gearing as claimed in claim 3, said selecting means actuated bythe pattern mechanism of the loom comprising a ring having an axisco-axial to said grooved shaft, said ring being angularly movablethrough an angle a about its axis between two end positions under theaction of the pattern mechanism of the loom, said ring having an innerperiphery co-axial to said shaft and forming a cam surface to retain thelateral extension of said pawl member at such a position that same isengaged with said grooved shaft, and said inner periphery of said ringbeing formed with two substantially V-shaped notches each of which mayeither be brought in line with one of the notdhes of said stationaryplate for one end position of said ring to receive said lateralextension and to permit said biassing means to disengage said pawlmember from said grooved shaft and to engage same with said stationaryplate, or be disaligned from said one notch of said stationary plate tourge said lateral extension inwardly towards said grooved shaft so as toengage said pawl member with said shaft, said V-shaped notches beingdisposed on said ring at an angle of ia with respect to each other.

5. In a gearing as claimed in claim 1, a link pivoted to said pawlmember, said link extending outwardly with respect to said groovedshaft, said eccentric having a radial groove to guide said link, saidplate being formed with a substantially flat lateral annular projectingportion having an inner periphery and an outer periphery both co-axialto said shaft, said inner periphery of said annular portion forming acam surface to retain said link at such a radial position with respectto said grooved shaft that said pawl member is engaged therewith, andsaid inner periphery of said annular portion of said stationary platehaving two diametrically opposed radial grooves into which said link maypenetrate to permit said biassing means to disengage said pawl memberfrom said grooved shaft and to engage said pawl member with saidstationary plate through said link.

6. In a gearing as claimed in claim 5, said selecting means actuated bythe pattern mechanism of the loom comprising a pusher rod slidable ineach of the radial grooves of the lateral annular projecting portion ofsaid stationary plate, said pusher rod having a length equal to theradial width of said annular projecting portion; and a ring having anaxis coaxial to said grooved shaft, said rin being angularly movablethrough an angle on about its axis between two end positions, said ringhaving an inner periphery rotatably mounted on the outer periphery ofthe annular projecting portion of said stationary plate, said innerperiphery of said ring being formed with two substantially V-shapednotches, each one of which may either be brought in line with one of thegrooves of said annular projecting portion of said stationary plate forone end position of said ring to receive the pusher rod slidable in saidone of said grooves and to permit said biassing means to disengage saidpawl member from said grooved shaft and to engage said pawl member withsaid stationary plate, or be disaligned from said one of said grooves ofsaid annular projecting portion to urge said last-named pusher rodinwardly towards said shaft so as to engage said pawl member with saidshaft, said References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Barlow 139-66Edelstein et a1 13966 Hoem'g l3966 Hoenig 13966 8 FOREIGN PATENTS 7/1959France. 10/ 1965 France.

FRED C. MATTERIL 111., Primary Examiner MANUEL ANTONAKAS, AssistantExaminer

